


Memories of Love

by Lakritzwolf



Series: Flufftober 2019 [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Childhood Memories, M/M, accidental dads, very wistful childhood memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 18:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20894312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: Written for Flufftober 2019Day 3: Blanket





	Memories of Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually the second chapter of [Their little Angel Princess](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20246731/chapters/49640969), a side story collection for my ReyHill Accidental Dads AU, but since I occasionally have OCD tendencies and I don't want to have a hole in my Flufftober series (the thought honestly makes me twitch) I cross-post this here again. Feel free to comment either here or there if you feel so inclined, for which I shall be forever grateful.

Redecorating and changing or adjusting interior isn’t really a challenge when you’re a warlock. Andrew had expected it, but to actually see Lorenzo change furniture with a snap of his fingers was something entirely different. 

And he felt strangely giddy about it all. True, it was Lorenzo’s home, and he had more or less adopted the little warlock baby that was currently asleep in Andrew’s arms, but there was that promise between them, so maybe, someday... 

“I will have to rely on your more hands-on experience from here on,” Lorenzo said with a frown, looking at the bassinet made of wicker and white silk decorated with soft pink ribbons. 

There was also a chest of drawers for clothes, and shelves for toys and books, but those wouldn’t be used for few years yet. He hadn’t changed the cream-coloured curtains, but added a touch of colour to the walls so they were no longer white but a shade somewhere between pearl and ivory. 

“You... might want that changing table in the bathroom,” Andrew said after a moment. “Because sometimes you really need to wash your hands right now.”

Lorenzo gave him a look that was hard to read but that bespoke of no happy thoughts, and left the room. Moments after he had entered the bathroom the changing table vanished. 

“Like this?” Lorenzo called out, and Andrew left the nursery too, to check. 

“Looks fine to me,” Andrew said. The changing table was set up as close to the sink as possible. “And I mean, it’s not going to be here forever. Three years? Four?” He looked at the tiny baby in his arms. “Five?”

“I have no idea,” Lorenzo said slowly and took a deep breath. “I have never dealt with that sort of thing before, not even in theory.”

“It’s not rocket science,” Andrew said with a smile and stepped closer. “And if all else fails, you can clean her up with a snap of your fingers.” He chuckled. “I’ve certainly wished more than once I could do that.”

“We shall see,” Lorenzo replied, and left the bathroom again to head for the nursery. 

It was the room between the upstairs bathroom and the master bedroom, so it was close enough for them to hear when anything was amiss. Andrew had yet to convince Lorenzo of the fact that it was in their very own interest to have Annie sleep in the bedroom with them. Not in their bed, but that’s what the bassinet was for. It had wheels, after all. 

After some debating how to go about it Lorenzo caved in and they two of them took a very mundane shopping trip for baby equipment together, with Andrew carrying Annie in the rainbow-coloured sling. 

Andrew didn’t comment on it, but every time Lorenzo looked at the baby sleeping with her face resting against Andrew’s chest, his face softened a little more, and in the end there was a smile on his face that Andrew had never seen before. It made his heart melt. 

So once again, Andrew bought clothes, and more bottle feeding equipment to complement what he had brought from the Institute, plus a lot of other things like a bathtub and a thermometer. 

And in the end, as they were on their way to the checkout, Andrew couldn’t help but stop at the shelf with small plush animals. He picked up the elephant, sighed, and put it down again with a wistful smile. Lorenzo stepped to his side with a questioning hum.

“Nothing,” Andrew said. “I mean...” Then he sighed again. “I bought one of those for Annie back then... but it’s gone now, together with all the other things.”

Lorenzo looked at the elephant, at Andrew, and back at the elephant. And then he took it from the shelf and dropped it into the cart, that soft, little smile on his face that was so entirely new. 

Andrew stayed overnight for a week, for Lorenzo to get a handle on things like changing and feeding, but then he took a trip to Alicante and his childhood home. His parents had both passed away by now, but his sister and her family now lived there. And while Elisabeth had never been happy about his sexuality, and even less about his current choice of partner, she had never been hostile about it. 

It was a little awkward, but after some small talk Andrew took a trip down memory lane. His old room was now the room of his oldest nephew, but he found the chest with keepsakes sitting at the very back end of the attic.

A small locket with a lock of hair, tied together with a blue ribbon. A pair of tiny white shoes. A picture of two hand prints. He dimly remembered making those, and was strangely touched that his mother had kept them. And at the very bottom was the item he had hoped to find.

The knitted off-white blanket was as soft as he remembered, and despite smelling a little stale, Andrew could feel his mother’s presence as he pressed it against his face. She had never judged him. She had never said a single bad word about his troubles with his sexuality, or about the countless times when he hadn’t lived up to his father’s expectations. She had always been a warm and comforting presence in his life, and at this moment, thinking of a baby girl who was his daughter in all but blood, he missed her like he hadn’t missed her in a very long time. 

She would have loved Annie like a grandchild. 

He spread the blanket out to check for damage the time in the chest might have caused, but it was still as perfect as it had been when his mother had put it here, more than twenty years ago. And along the edge, in a corner, embroidered with blue silk yarn, a single word: Andrew.

Andrew wiped the back of his hand across his eyes as he got up after closing the chest again. 

Maybe, like this, Annie would feel something of his mother’s love.

When he showed that blanket to Lorenzo his eyes had softened even more, and a snap of his fingers had removed any stale smell and dust from the knitted fabric, leaving only a faint, floral scent behind. 

That night Andrew covered the baby with that blanket, thinking of his mother, her love, and her smile.

“Andrew?” Lorenzo’s voice was a soft whisper. “Are you okay?”

It was only then that Andrew realised he had tears on his cheek, and he sniffed, wiped the tears away with his hand, and told Lorenzo about the history of the blanket, and his thoughts about his mother, and his mother’s love. 

Lorenzo put one arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, and snapped his fingers again. 

And below his name, embroidered in pink silk yarn and in the very same handwriting, another name appeared: Andromeda.

Andrew closed his eyes and gave up on fighting his tears. “I love you,” he whispered, his voice husky with emotions that were almost too much to handle.

“I love you too,” Lorenzo whispered back, closing both arms around him. 

And wrapped in the soft, knitted blanket, Annie smiled in her sleep.


End file.
